Calthorpe

GB, 1904 – 1932

Calthorpe Motor Co Ltd, Birmingham

In 1904 G.W. Hands, a bicycle manufacturer, introduced the first Calthorpe car. It was a small, low-priced, 10hp 4-cylinder machine with shaft drive, continued as a Calthorpe 12/14hp. Bigger Calthorpe cars were made, of which the best-known was the Calthorpe 16/20, announced for 1907. The really large 28/40hp of that year was short-lived: light cars remained the Calthorpe company’s forte. Generally, they were powered by White & Poppe engines. Works teams of Calthorpe cars, based on the 12/14hp and its successor the Calthorpe 13.9hp, entered the Coupe de l’Auto races in France more consistently than any other British make, but with no success.
The car which made the Calthorpe firm’s name more than any other before World War 1 was the little Calthorpe Minor, a beautifully-made 10hp light car current from 1913 to 1915. Like all Calthorpe cars for sale, it was a conventional machine, with 4-cylinder side-valve engine and 3-speed gearbox. Hands left the Calthorpe company after the war to make the Hands light car, but the Calthorpe 10hp was continued. It was a notably good-looking and well-finished machine with a good performance, but the handsomest Calthorpe cars were its two- and four-seater sports variants, with polished aluminium bodies by Mulliner, a subsidiary company. Their alloy reciprocating parts were drilled for extra lightness and balance, permitting higher engine revolutions. These Calthorpe sports cars were good for over 60mph. A new Calthorpe for sale, the Calthorpe Twelve, followed in 1923, which was more refined but heavier and less attractive. An obscure Calthorpe 15hp six with overhead camshaft, which had been the last Hands model, was the company’s last new car. It was introduced in 1925, by which time G.W. Hands had returned to the firm. Very few Calthorpe cars were made after 1927, though motor cycle manufacture continued. The car factory was reopened in the same year as the Colmore Depot Ltd’s Morris service centre.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; TRN
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